Azure Renaissance
by Soulfulbard
Summary: Sokka has always had terrible luck. Now, six years after the war, it finally might have killed him. Injured and alone, he finds out that he's just washed up near where Azula has been in hiding all these years. But is she really the same person who fled the Valley of Forgetfulness, the same woman he so fears and hates? Or has she undergone a renaissance?
1. Shippwrecked

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Avatar: the Last Airbender and related characters are property of Nickelodeon.

**Azure Renaissance**

**Chapter 1: Shipwrecked**

This was just great, thought Sokka as he looked up into the sun and the wheeling seagulls overhead. He'd survived the Hundred Years War—which was no small task given his part in ending it, from braving collapsing libraries to using an airship as the world's largest sword. And in the peace, he'd survived angry spirits, race riots and criminal masterminds. As best as he could reckon, he'd even survived the incompetence of the rather green (heh) Earth Kingdom crew in the maiden voyage of the first Earth Kingdom steamship.

That last one, if he was feeling it correctly, left him with two cracked ribs, a broken leg, and a splitting headache. Still, he'd survived that and the rage of the ocean to wash up on shore... somewhere. And now he was going to die of heat stroke while lying there in the sun like a beached shark-porpoise.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there, but it was sorely disappointing. From what he'd always been told, a person's life was supposed to flash before them when they died. And if he was going to die anyway, he really hoped that was true because his life had been exciting and would make a good show, Ember Island Players notwithstanding.

It was a show that failed to start, however. There was no flash of his very first tiger-seal hunt, or the day they busted Aang out of his iceberg. No awesome scenes of his manly prowess in battle both as a warrior and a tactician. Not even some scenes of his awful, no-good luck, like the time he got stuff in that crevasse while hunting an adorable but delicious animal.

Nope, all he got was a view of a blue sky and the sound of surf and seabirds. At least the seabirds were waiting for him to die before indulging.

After a while, he decided he was better off not remembering some things. Like Yue. It had been a little over six years now and what happened to her was one of his deepest regrets. He still had nightmares about that. That and that scary moment where he thought he'd dropped Toph from the fire Nation airship during that last eventful day of the war. In the nightmare, Suki didn't get there in time.

And... there went his decent mood.

He hadn't been in a necessarily _good_ mood, what with the dying part and all, but it hadn't been a bad mood. Having gone through what he'd done and accomplished all the things he had transformed even Sour Sokka into an optimist to a certain extent.

Though he guessed he shouldn't be in a good mood in this case. Even if he _was_ okay with dying, he shouldn't be okay with dying for someone else's stupidity. He knew the Earth Kingdom crew was relatively new, but lashing down everything on deck in a storm was just common sense. That barrel had no reason to be rolling around on deck like that, much less bouncing off _another_ loose piece of debris on deck, catching some air and knocking him overboard.

Yep. Decent mood gone. He was actually kind of peeved now. King Kuei was going to hear about this... or not. The storm had hit in the night, so if the crew hadn't found him yet, it was likely do to incompetence, which meant rescue was not coming soon. Therefore, he'd probably die there on the beach and Kuei (Sokka of course got to call him just plain Kuei the same way he called the Fire Lord 'Zuko' and the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe 'Dad'. Chief Arnook was still Chief Arnook, the hardass.) wasn't going to hear a thing about it.

The sun moved a bit more and he decided it that maybe he wasn't going to die soon after all.

"Welp." He said to no one because it was just him and the sky, "Better drag myself to some kind of shelter. Maybe there was some shrimp-crabs on the beach to eat..."

He went to turn himself over and was rewarded with a pain like he'd never experienced shooting up his side and all the way down to his leg. Spots appeared before his eyes and his body threatened to black out from shear overload.

It might have been something he could fight through, only someone started screaming. Wait, no, that was him screaming. He couldn't blame himself. Unmanly or not, he was in scream-worthy pain. Award-winning, scream-worthy pain. Tears too. The tears starting to stream down his face were completely justified. If he hadn't missed several meals shouting at the crew of the steamship, the other thing his body tried to do would have been justified too.

Of course, he then found himself in a terrible position: the arm he had raised in order to try and turn over was still in the air. Moving it in any direction was going to bring more of the same kind of agony. And gravity and his tired muscles were demanding that it not remain up like that.

Sokka remembered ruefully how readily he accepted the 'honor' of accompanying the first Earth steamship on its voyage to the South Pole. It was going to be a chance to see home again (though with all the new Northern Waterbenders helping to build the place up, it hardly resembled home anymore) and to escape Aang and Katara's newlywed ooginess.

Toph had bailed by going to Yu Dao because she hated boats. Oh how he wished he'd gone with her.

Yup, just as Aunt Wu said long ago, he life was a series of misfortunes, often self-inflicted.

He inflicted a little more by letting his arm drop. And later, when recounting the tale, he made certain to make it clear that he didn't sound like a newborn polar leopard cub crying for milk.

It was thanks to his totally manly bellows of wholly justified pain and increasing dizziness that he didn't hear her approach. Teetering on the edge of consciousness though, he heard her loud and clear.

"Great. This is all I needed."

That voice. He hadn't heard it often, and not for five years—not since she fled into the wilds after failing to assassinate her own mother.

If he were to tell the truth, she still scared him. Not all the nightmares were of Yue sacrificing herself or Toph falling. He hadn't even been there when the real thing happened, but in his darkest dreams, Aang still died with a lightning bolt coursing through his back. Correction: Aang was the _first_ to die with a lightning bolt coursing through his back in those dreams.

Just the thought of her brought the scent of phantom ozone to his nose and flickers of blue fire to the edges of his narrowing vision.

Azula was there.

And he was helpless at her feet.

**A/N:**

Greetings all, your humble SoulfulBard here, now with a yarn from the world of Avatar: the Last Airbender.

As you can tell, Azure Renaissance is going to be Sokkla, but fair warning, my philosophy for romance is Earn Your Happy Ending and also that there has to be a real plot going on, which there will be. As always, I'm trying to keep the characters in character (but Azula, of course needs to not be psychotic. You'll see how I deal with that). There's going to be action, humor, drama and yes, romance, so hold on tight!

Some might wonder why this particular ship and the thing is, I find it irresistible to pair the serious tough girl with the funny guy (see also Beast Boy / Raven). These two didn't have much interaction on the show, which this being Azula and all, probably works in the ship's favor.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!


	2. Bedridden

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Avatar: the Last Airbender and related characters are property of Nickelodeon.

**Azure Renaissance**

**Chapter 2: Bedridden**

The next thing that might be mistaken for a coherent thought he had was surprise that he was still alive and capable of things that might pass as coherent thoughts.

Yes, somehow he was alive. Apparently Azula's voice had been a pain-induced hallucination. Besides, Sokka assured himself, he'd only heard that voice in person a few times and that was five years ago. He probably couldn't pick her voice out if he tried.

That relaxed some of the tension he was feeling, but that also drew his attention back to his injuries. The ache was dull but fierce, and his mouth was filled with a bitter taste. Pain medicine. A good sign. Even better, his ribs were tightly bound to keep his cracked (please let them just be cracked) ribs in place, and someone had put a splint on his leg. A burning feeling in his thigh hinted at antiseptic having been applied to a wound he missed earlier.

Wherever he was, he was being well taken care of.

And why not? There wasn't anywhere else he could have landed _but_ the Earth Kingdom and he was Sokka, the master strategist who brought down the Phoenix Fleet, preventing untold devastation. He never had to pay for a drink, a meal or a room in the Earth Kingdom, provided someone recognized him. Medical attention was apparently also a given.

Secure in the knowledge that any Mad Fire Nation Princesses had been all his imagination, Sokka tried t slip back to sleep.

And failed.

And quickly grew bored.

With some effort, he pried his eye open and had a look around as best he could without abusing his poor ribs by turning over.

He appeared to be on a raised bed instead of the futons Earth Kingdom commoners favored. Said bed was tucked in the corner of a room that had clearly been bent out of the ground in a single, seamless piece. The stone counter that took up the walls opposite him and table in the center of the room also appeared to be permanent parts of the room. Nothing fancy, just raw, bent stone.

What was on the counter piqued his interest: wrought iron tools of all types: spades, saws, wrenches, tongs, hammers of all sizes as well as blades and heads for various tools meant to go on long poles and parts he'd never seen before. They say on the counter or leaned against it, or hung above on iron pegs pounded into the wall.

Mixed among them were incongruous bits: glass in different colors, sometimes in crude shapes but mostly blown into round-bodied bottles of assorted sizes. They didn't belong, but Sokka got a sense that they did somehow.

Besides the tools, there was an iron wood stove in the corner next to an open fireplace where a caldron of... something... hung over the fire. Someone had dragged a heavy wooden rocking chair up close to the fire, angled so whoever sat in it had a clear view of him.

Sokka wondered if she should find that creepy or not, but decided to continue with his survey of his surroundings.

Two doors lead into and out of the room. One was closed and there was no light coming from under it. The other, Sokka couldn't see directly from where he sat, but it was open and allowing in both a warm sea breeze and the sound of a hammer ringing on an anvil.

A town blacksmith. Sokka smiled. No better people in the world, blacksmiths. Especially when they let him _tinker_.

Not long after he'd grown board again, having looked at all the room had to offer, the hammering stopped and the door outside of Sokka's view creaked further open.

Someone stepped lightly inside and a moment later, a woman stepped into Sokka's line of sight. He back was to him, but he made out black hair cut just to the shoulder. Whoever it was, she was dressed in the Earth Kingdom fashion: a sleeveless green tunic and a brown, wraparound skirt with green piping that fell to her ankles. She also had a heavy leather smith's apron tied around her front.

It had been... a while since Sokka had any free time given his duties and schedule, and even then, he hadn't felt exactly up to ogling women thanks to... the _situation_ back at the Fire Nation. Nothing like a near-death experience to get the humors moving in the right direction again. He appreciated her figure, but there was something about it that tugged worryingly at his mind about it.

She wasn't broadly built like an earthbender, but her exposed arms had well-defined muscles. Nor was she really slender. Hers wasn't the top-heavy shape of a smith. No, it spoke of full-body, high impact exercise; something that worked the entire body and built up flat, lean muscle like...

His body grew cold. He knew where he'd seen feminine physiques like that and they weren't typically dressed in sleeveless green numbers. No, they preferred midriff-bearing red and black. Because _that_ was the body of a firebender.

And that would have been fine. He had friends who were firebenders now. He'd even dated one of Zuko's royal guards, a girl named Ming, for a while. But in context with the voice that he was suddenly positive he'd gotten right because one does not hear that much crazy and forget... He wished he was anywhere else right then. The Boiling Rock, the crevasse he got stuck in that one time... Koh's Lair—anywhere.

Right at that moment, as if seeking to prove she was ten times creepier than Koh, the woman before him seemed to read his mind.

"There's no point in pretending you're still asleep." Yep. There was no mistaking that calculated casualness, the subtle, cruelty, or the sheer... snakiness of Azula's speech patterns. "I know you're awake. I knew the moment I walked in the door."

It felt like a chunk of ice had formed in Sokka's stomach as he watched the Fire Princess slowly turn to face him.

She'd grown up over the years, her features sharpening in places, but the eyes hadn't. Those eyes. Those yellow, predatory eyes. They were like the eyes of a wolfbat, but Sokka liked wolves, so he decided to liken them to those of a dragon instead.

Their eyes locked. To his surprise, Sokka found not victory or murder in those eyes, but the proud defiance of a prisoner facing the gallows. It was the same look he was giving her.

Then those terrible yellow eyes narrowed and without looking away, she put down the bucket Sokka only just now noticed she'd been carrying (had he really been so distracted by her body. Tui, had he really been distracted by the body of one of history's greatest monsters?) and took a threatening step forward.

"How did you find this place? Why are you here?" she demanded.

Normally, it wasn't done for a prisoner of war to answer any of his enemy's questions, but Sokka only had the one weapon left to his name: snark, so he put it into play. "Oh, the answer to both is easy: the universe hates me."

It worked. Azula hesitated, losing a bit of her stance as the confusion hit her. "What?"

"Look Princess," Sokka really wished he could so more while he said this beyond laying flat on his back. The right gestures really added a lot to good sarcasm. "Do you think I decided to shatter my ribs, half-drown myself, break my leg and come at you completely unarmed because I needed a _challenge?! I was shipwrecked_, woman! I had no idea you were here! If I did, I would have asked a nice orcashark to eat me while I was in the water. It's be better than you have planned, I'm sure."

It was then that Azula did something he hadn't been counting on. Maybe he should from the stories Zuko told, or his own experience dealing with her in the Fire Nation bunker complex, but he figured that with her firebending intact, she'd go for that first.

But no, she countered snark with snark. "Oh yes." She rolled her eyes, "Like I've already brutally mauled you with bandages and first aid. I just couldn't bear to let nature get you first."

Sokka balked. "Well I... hey wait, that's a good question: why'd you bother helping me in the first place?"

With another roll of her eyes, Azula went over to a small wooden cupboard and came out with a pair of shallow wooden bowls. "Let me answer your question with a question: What do you think would happen if the Avatar found you dead and me in proximity to the body?"

Glowing would certainly figure into it, Sokka decided. Glowing an all four elements being bent and maybe even some energybending if Aang had the wherewithal to keep himself form killing.

"Oh."

"Right." said Azula, dipping on bowl in the bucket. "I may have been able to deal with him before he was fully realized, but seeing as how he defeated F... Ozai during the comet's return, I know when I'm outmatched. Therefore, I hope to offer you a deal instead."

She crossed the room and thrust the bowl at Sokka's face. "Drink." It wasn't an offer. Either that water was going to be in him or on him in the next few seconds, so Sokka opened his mouth and allowed her to pour the water down his throat.

A trickle went down the wrong pipe and Sokka coughed, something his ribs didn't take kindly too. The next few moments were devoted to moaning in pain. Azula didn't seem to pay any heed to his suffering; going back to retrieve the other bowl, which she took over to the cauldron over the fire.

When he felt he could speak again, Sokka rasped. "What deal?"

Azula took the time to ladle what looked like some sort of cream-based stew into the bowl and sit down in the rocking chair with it before replying. "Well it seems to me that I saved your life, peasant. You owe me and I intend to collect."

"No. Way." Sokka shot back. "I'm not going to help you lead some kind of coup against Zuko or getting you close enough to kill Aang or something."

The Princess picked up a spoon from somewhere beyond the chair that Sokka couldn't see and took a mouthful of stew. "Somehow, I doubt even Zuzu is incompetent enough to fall to my mighty army of me, myself and maybe the odd or two farmer who try to flirt with me to get out of paying what he owes."

Sokka snorted, which also didn't do his ribs any favors. "Wait, so you're seriously out here in the Earth Kingdom working Talk about 'sword to plowshares'."

That earned him an imperious look and a sniff from Azula. "I'll have you know that as Princess, I learned everything there is to know about the Fire Nation's advanced metallurgy sciences. With that, plus the training from the old woman who lived here, I'll be able to make this backwater an agricultural force to be reckoned with."

"Pfft." Sokka really wished he could wave dismissively because now would have been a good time for that. "Fire Nation metallurgy. My best friend is the world's first metalbending master _and_ I'm the only person ever yo forge space earth."

"How can something from space be 'earth'?" Azula asked cooly, taking another spoonful of stew.

"Look, that's not the point!"

"None of this is the point!" Azula snapped. "You keep getting me off on tangents, presumably because you think it will anger me into making a mistake. But I will remind you that you are in no condition to fend for yourself, so this is a wasted effort."

Sokka opened his mouth to retort, then quickly closed it. She was, as much as he loathed to agree, right. He could barely move at the moment, much less find help or even feed himself. That didn't mean that he had to do what she said, however. He had an advantage; namely, she knew the consequences of letting him die.

"Alright. Let's here your deal then. I'll give it some thought."

Those yellow eyes narrowed. "I saved your worthless life."

"Maybe I don't want to overpay then if it was so worthless."

Azula grit her teeth, then put her stew bowl aside. "Oh for Agni's sake. I'm not asking for your soul here. All I want, is for when the Avatar or my brother or whoever else finally finds you; you will say nothing to them of my being here."

If he didn't know it would hurt like hell, Sokka would have laughed. "You're kidding right? You are the most wanted human being on the planet. Zuko is offering a hundred thousand yuan for you to be returned alive. Kuei's offering the same, only he doesn't care what shape you're in."

"And you intend to cash in on that." said flatly.

"Well yeah, but it's the principal of the thing. Maybe for you it was Tuesday or something, but _you killed one of my best friends—_you know, the guy who is the Spirit of the World? Not only that, but you captured and locked Suki up, chased use like forever, and electrocuted Zuko!"

It was Azula's turn to scoff. "Oh really. I clearly did not kill the Avatar because he's still flying around bringing 'balance'. Or did I just dream the part where he helped overthrow my birthright, violated my fa... Ozai's essence to strip away his bending, and turned my friends and brother against me?"

Sokka glared at her and imagined being able to just lunge across the space at her. "No. But you did kill Aang. It's just that Katara managed to bring him back."

"It isn't murder if they don't stay dead." Azula muttered petulantly and returned her attention to the stew. "So what? You want to bring me to 'justice' or some such nonsense?"

"YES!" Sokka shouted so loud that even his leg twinged at the jostling it accompanied. "I get why Zuko felt he needed to let you out and go with us to the valley, but you've got a lot to answer for, lady."

She gave him a level look. "And what crimes am I escaping again? Killing the Avatar who came back? I don't see my accessory, Zuko, locked up for his part. Attacking you and your friends? Will I be sharing a cell with Mai or Ty Lee? Conquering Ba Sing Se? Will my dear Uncle be serving half the sentence for breaching the outer wall?"

"That's different." Sokka defended. "They all—"

"Turned against me to side with you!" Azula shouted. The cook fire blazed blue for an instant before she regained her composure. "Just because they had a chance of heart at the last minute, they receive no punishment. But because I'm the one—the only one—who held any sort of loyalty to my country and what was left of my family... what? The Earth King would be happy to see me hang by the neck. And my dear brother would be more than happy to lock me in that oubliette he called an asylum until I go mad again."

Again? Sokka wanted to ask why she thought she wasn't still crazy, but she was on a roll with the exposition and he'd need all the information he could get to live through this.

With a visible force of will, Azula drew herself up and crossed her legs, assuming a regal pose in the old rocking chair. "I saved you life, peasant. You know what's waiting for me if Zuko or the Earth King get their hands on me. So all I'm really asking is for you to return the favor."

Those yellow eyes blazed. "Be fore you answer, believe this: while I have no intention of letting you die and selling my fate, your convalescence can be quite comfortable..." she gestured to the bed he was in and the pot of stew over the fire, "Or miserable." She gestured to the cold, unforgiving floor and the bucket of water.

"It really is your choice."

**AN:**

This went on a lot longer than I intended because man can these two banter.

In case anyone is wondering, what Azula is saying at the end isn't me trying to excuse or gloss over the character's actions. It's clear at least to me that the difference between her and the 'exonerated' characters is that Azula really, really enjoys what she's doing. There's some argument about her upbringing to be made, but we'll get into that when we get into how she's sane now and that's still not complete absolution. Azula has a long road for anything resembling redemption.

For people who have me on follow for my other stories, sorry but this was really easy to jot down between my busy schedule. TPR and Mayhem in Mexico will return soon, possibly as part of NaNoWriMo.

And don't forget to check out my profile for a link to my original fiction site.


	3. Ensnared

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Avatar: the Last Airbender and related characters are property of Nickelodeon.

**Azure Renaissance**

**Chapter 3: Ensnared**

Even with all the alarm bells common sense and experience were ringing in his head at the moment, Sokka remembered one night and one discussion so clearly that it pushed to the forefront.

It was shortly after Zuko joined team Avatar at the Western Air Temple and Sokka meant to keep an eye n him best he could. So in the dark of the night, the Southern Water Tribe warrior had stalked up to the door of the banished prince's room with the intent to keep watch.

Rather than watch, he ended up listening. Listening to the tossing and turning, the fitful mutters and moans as the things that Zuko said he was atoning for in the day tried to consume him in the night. After twenty or so minutes, Zuko's sleep abruptly cut off in a short, sharp scream and shallow, terrified breaths.

As much as he hated the jerkbender, Sokka was almost moved to go check on him on principle. Then he heard what the other young man was mumbling and the terrified, childish lilt to his voice was so unsettling that Sokka decided he wanted nothing to do with it.

The words stayed with him though and gave new depth to his hatred and wariness of the Fire Princess: "Azula always lies. Azula always lies. Azula always..."

In the here and now, Sokka looked up at the subject of young Zuko's mantra. She had a smirk on her face from having implied she'd make him sleep on the floor, and an eyebrow raised to tell him she was waiting for a reply.

"No thanks." He said, steeling his expression. "I can managed by myself."

Azula's expression didn't change except for a narrowing of her eyes. "Oh really? Then allow me to administer a very simple survival test." She turned and took up another wooden bowl, filling it with soup from the pot before dropping a spoon into it. Turning back, she laid the hot bowl non-too-gently on his sternum. "Eat up."

Even through the wood of the bowl and his bandages, the soup was hot enough to hurt. So much so that Sokka couldn't keep the tightness out of his voice as he said, "I think I'll wait until it cools off a little to eat it."

"Of course, there is an alternative..." Azula said, not bothering to conceal her amusement at his attempts to mask his pain. She picked up the bowl and lifted the spoon, holding it just in front of his mouth. Truth be told it smelled delicious—but then again, after going Tui knew how long without eating, anything would have smelled delicious to Sokka.

"Oh no," Sokka turned his head. It didn't hurt as much this time. "I'm not falling for that. Seriously? Like _you_ would ever offer to feed and take care of anyone? It's poisoned. It has to be."

Rolling her eyes, Azula stabbed the spoon back into the bowl. "Don't be a fool. You've seen me eating stew from the exact same pot."

"...which is why you put poison on the bottom of the bowl, or on the spoon."

The Fire Princess tilted her head and considered. "Poison on the spoon. You know, you have something there. A wary foe would certainly suspect the vessel, but few would consider the utensils..."

"I wasn't trying to give you ideas!" Sokka quailed, making his ribs hurt.

Azula smirked at him again. "Oh, but you did. And a decent one too. But no, I have no need to poison you—I need you alive, after all. As I said, killing you would be to bring down the Avatar's wrath and I will not end up..." She had started talking more rapidly and louder, but suddenly caught herself, taking a deep breath. "I won't be disposed of like Ozai."

Her near-outburst mad Sokka look Azula over again. That had been the only sign of the manic behavior that had characterized the young woman in the months following her defeat. Only even that didn't seem _crazy_, only... afraid? That was new for her.

Azula returned his scrutiny with a glare. "If you insist on being an idiot, then I will prove that nothing her is poisoned." With that, she dug the spoon into the stew, then popped it into her mouth. After a few delicate chews, she swallowed. "There. Now. Eat. Starving you to death won't help me in any way."

When she went to feed him a spoonful, he blanched and turned his head again. She grit her teeth. "What?"

"I'm not eating after you! Wipe that off!" Sokka all but squawked at her, a look of horror on his face.

"Really?" the princess mocked. "I'm the one who should be worried about germs, Savage."

To her surprise, it looked to her as if her prisoner/patient started pouting. "It's not about germs." he grumped. "Which I don't have, mind you. Look, I don't know how you do it in the Fire Nation, but in the Water Tribe, a guy eating after a girl means they're family or the next thing to it. It's kind of a big deal—I didn't even eat after Toph until we'd been traveling together almost two months. And I _never_ got to eat after... never mind. Point is, I'm not gonna eat after—mmph"

That last part was obstructed by a spoon being shoved into his gob when he opened his mouth wide enough.

He wanted to spit it out, preferably on her, but it tasted just like it smelled and he was so hungry... When Azula withdrew the spoon, it was possibly cleaner than it had been when she bought it.

"You." He growled, knowing he couldn't actually do anything to get back at her yet.

Azula merely loaded to spoon again and gave him a look that dared him to speak. "In case you didn't realize, we are not at the South Pole at this moment. Therefore, your quaint little customs do not apply." She then made it a point to offer a sweet smile that seemed all the more malevolent for the sweetness. "Unless whatever miniscule amount of my saliva might have been transferred has magically made us 'family'." There was so much acid in the last word that Sokka shied back from it.

"Thank every spirit ever we are not." Sokka muttered. Zuko was a god friend, but Sokka never wanted to call him 'brother' because there was no way he wanted to even be honorarily connected to _that_ family tree. Even Iroh and Avatar Roku weren't enough to sweeten the pot there.

"Good. Then we agree. Now eat quickly; I have work left to do before I go to sleep."

Sokka considered resisting longer. But the stew was mighty tasty and didn't seem to be killing him... "Fine." He finally said. "But even if I promise not to tell Aang you're here, don't think I won't come back here myself to catch you."

If the princess was surprised by this, she didn't show it as she started spooning out more stew for him to eat. "Is that really how much saving your life means to you? And here I thought the savages of the South at least had a concept of honor."

"You already named you price: not telling Aang you're here. My honor's clean, thank you very much. Besides, it would be worse if I just left these innocent villagers to whatever you might have planned for them."

"Well that would be selling them forged goods and glassware. Dastardly of me, I know?"

"As if you'd just give up and retire to some little village." Sokka said with a glare. "You're planning something I can tell."

Azula sniffed. "I already told you my plan: I'll use my superior knowledge of metallurgy to build up the wealth and prestige of this backwater and eventually become wealthy and powerful on their backs."

"Pfft. There you go with the Fire Nation metallurgy thing again. Do you know how much fire nation steel I've taken out with just my boomerang?"

Her eyes narrowed, but not in her usual predatory way. It looked more like petulant annoyance. "As a matter of fact, I do. That sword of yours was forged from meteoric iron I hear. So what exotic metal fell into your lap to forge that weapon of yours?"

Sokka snorted, turning the petulance on her face to complete annoyance. "See? You don't know a thing about the Water Tribe. But heck, I would have thought it was common sense that we don't have metal at all. Can't exactly run a forge living on ice."

"Lies." Azula snapped. "I've read the reports. I've seen the damage. Your weapons—"

"Are made from bone. Whaleshark bone most of the time...some of the larger kinds of seals. Sea animals are tougher than land animals because their bodies have to deal with all the pressure own there. If you know how to carve it, you can get very strong weapons that keep their edges and also float in case you drop them overboard."

He gave Azula a smirk of his own as he saw the surprise on her face. Then, without a word, she put the bowl back on his chest (thankfully, he'd eaten most of the stew and it had cooled down) and walked away from him, going to grab something from a shelf.

When she returned, she was holding what he recognized as his unfinished boomerang—the one that had stabbed open his leg during his stranding. She was turning it over in her hands, inspecting it thoughtfully. "So that's what this is. It's so light almost like..."

Her demeanor changed again and Sokka felt the urge to run, injuries or no injuries. This time it wasn't because she had one of her many 'dangerous' looks about her, but because she had one of those expressions like _he_ often got right before he announced a brilliant new plan.

Then it was gone. Azula seemed to simply lose interest. Instead, she placed the unfinished boomerang down next to the hearth and picked up the stew bowl once more.

"What?" Sokka narrowed his eyes at her.

"It's unimportant." She said, digging out another spoon of stew to offer him. Only after he took it into his mouth did he add, "Only that the people here have just happened to discover a metal that seems to have the same properties as your bone tools."

She tossed the words off so casually, Sokka almost missed the manipulative undertone. He came dangerously close to replying, but stopped at the last moment.

Non-plussed, Azula continued to talk as she fed him the rest of the bowl. "It's really very interesting. The old smith didn't know what to do with it, and frankly, neither do I. This 'titan metal' as the villagers call it, is as strong as fire nation steel, but extremely brittle. Alloying it with steel may be the answer, but I'm certain that engineering is where its true value will be revealed. But then, I'm more of a tactician than an engineer."

Sokka swallowed and glanced aside. "Why are you telling me this?"

Placing the bowl off to the side, Azula rolled her eyes. "Oh please. As I said about your weapon: I _have_ read the reports. I _have_ seen the damage: to the Drill. To the First Aerial Fleet. The fleet by the way that I am to understand you are partially the architect of, as well as those submersible ships and earth tanks that you designed for the Day of Black Sun."

As she watched his eyes for reaction, she stepped back and, without looking, dropped into the rocking chair behind her, steepling her fingers. "The invasion, I might add, that I was instrumental in crushing and which would have defeated the Earth Kingdom once and for all if not for you exploiting numerous design and security flaws."

"You're really not making me want to hide you from Aang, you know."

Azula crossed her legs and leaned back, rocking gently. "Oh please. You should be flattered. I am acknowledging you as a worthy opponent. You even saw through my stalling during the Day of Black Sun—at least until I found the right buttons to push. How _is_ my favorite prisoner these days? Still corrupting Ty Lee?"

Silence fell over the room, so profound that it made Azula raise an eyebrow. "Nothing to say to that?"

"I need to rest to heal." Sokka said. His tone was hollow, without spirit.

"Hmm." Azula replied, just to make sure she noticed his reaction.

Sokka didn't care. He was the injured person and he had the right to cut off the conversation if he wanted to.

Closing his eyes, he made and effort to sleep, but his injuries and racing mind made it difficult. Not to mention knowing Azula was in the same room, likely still watching him. Instead, he considered the metal she mentioned. Not just what he could do with something with the properties she described, but trying to guess what she wanted to do with it.

There was no way that even _Azula_ planned his shipwrecking and washing up at a precise spot, so she couldn't have been expecting him to be there. That meant she was building her own plan on the fly—and that he needed to build a counter plan one step ahead of her.

Even though he knew that was her intention, his thoughts lingered on his failures: the Day of Black Sun, the rallying of the Earth Army. He wasn't half the tactician he thought he was. That left his strength—the one even Azula admitted to: he was resourceful and creative even if he couldn't lead men (or girls. Or lemurs), he could figure something out.

With ideas on how to do that spinning in his head, he sank into sleep.

**AN:**

I'm back again. Like I said, my fanfics might not have the priority right now, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten them.

In this chapter, we get to the meat of why I like Sokka and Azula as a ship. They're both arguably the smartest (but not the wisest) characters in the series and they go about it in completely opposite ways: one goofy and one deadly (literally) serious. The idea of these two having a common goal and getting to understand each other is intriguing to me on a number of levels.

Next chapter, Sokka starts to heal and Azula starts to talk.


End file.
